Dune: Awakening shifts focus to PvE and adds private servers

In a major strategic pivot, Funcom has announced that Dune: Awakening is shifting toward a PvE-first experience.

Data showed that 80% of players avoided PvP, prompting the developers to remove mandatory combat from areas like the Hagga Basin.

The endgame Deep Desert has also been split, offering both a safe PvE zone and a high-reward PvP instance where resource yields are multiplied by 2.5x.

Furthermore, responding to community demands, Funcom is introducing private servers.

These allow players to customize rules like resource rates and building limits, though hosting currently requires advanced technical setups like Windows Pro with Hyper-V.

While some remain critical of previous balance choices, this move marks a significant course correction, ensuring that while Arrakis remains a dangerous world of storms and sandworms, player-versus-player combat is now an optional choice rather than a mandatory barrier.